中文学校每周简讯 - 9月18日

其他一些学校的工作和大家通报如下：

1．青少年义工团选举
华社青少年义工团将在这个星期天（9月21日）2:30PM至3PM在教室C206开会进行选举，鼓励在校初中生（7年级）以上学生参加义工团，九年级以上学生参加选举。参加选举的同学请在这个周五晚之前把个人简历及工作设想提交给校长。如果需要帮助，请与校长联系。

２．新增加文化课：击剑入门
学校新增加一门文化活动课－击剑入门。由SUNY-Albany大学的助理教授梁子扬博士任教。梁子扬博士曾代表中国香港击剑队参加比赛并多次荣获冠军及其它各种奖项。梁子扬博士还拥有多年指导青少年击剑的经验。击剑课已经在网页上开放给大家注册。据梁博士介绍，入门击剑器具费用不高，如果注册人数足够，可以集体从中国网购，费用会更低。击剑是一项对脑力思考要求极高的运动，非常锻炼运动员的快速反应、观察思考判断能力，对青少年身体协调能力、智力发育有很好的促进作用。请感兴趣的家长及时行动。

３．青少年教育讲座
针对中文教、学中的老大难问题－如何提高学生的兴趣、并培养良好的学习习惯，学校正在紧锣密鼓的准备一系列的讲座。计划邀请教育界的一些专家学者来学校办讲座交流，希望能给大家带来一些新的思路、新的方法，共同促进中文教育的质量。最近的两次讲座预定在１０月５日和１０月１９日，请大家留心布告。

４．学校时间表
再次提醒大家一下，学校是１２：４５PM开门，４PM需要准时关门。延时会增加学校的运营费用。请大家３：４０PM下课后及时收拾各自物品、教室，４PM前离开学校。如有尚待解决的问题，请以后再联系学校人员处理。谢谢大家的配合。

５．家长兴趣活动俱乐部
请参加各项兴趣活动俱乐部的家长，包括篮球，羽毛球，乒乓球，舞蹈，务必在俱乐部以及学校网页登记。学校需要为使用校方场地、设备的每一个人人身安全负责。只有在学校登记，才能享受学校统一购买的保险并且合法使用学校的场地设备。

６．董事会
这个星期天3PM到3:50PM会在学校召开本学年第一次董事会。主要议题是本学年的预算开支以及学校工作安排。届时所有校务人员，家长会代表和教师代表都要参加。需要找校务人员的家长，请安排在第一，二节课来。

本期简讯到此。谢谢大家关注，星期天见！

陈峰
中文学校校长2014-2015

As temperature drops, the autumn starts to color the edge of leaves. Soon we will have a full spectrum of fall, the best season of the year.

Going into the third week of Chinese School, I hope most of you now have finalized registrations for your child. There are a dozen families who still have balance due probably due to changes of classes. Please make your final decisions and have the balance cleared before the third class. Beginning the next class, all teachers will start to check roster and confirm class size.

I have a few other things to share with you regarding coming events.

1. Youth Team Election
The Youth Team election will happen this Sunday 2:30PM to 3PM at room C206. The members of youth team need to notify their teachers
for earlier dismissal to be able to participate in the election. The deadline for candidacy is end of this Friday 9/19. If you plan to run for a position in the executive team, please send me resumes of you and your running mate if you have one. A sketch of 2014-2015 plan is also required. If you need help to put together a plan, I can share with you activities organized by previous committee.

2. New Culture Class - Fence for Beginners
I am happy to announce that a beginner’s fence class will be offered beginning this Sunday. It will be taught by Dr. Ricky Leung, an assistant professor of SUNY-Albany. Dr. Leung had competed on behalf of Hong Kong Fencing team and won many championships and awards. He also participated in World
University Games (Universiade) in 1995. Dr. Leung is a certified Fence coach and has had many years of coaching experience for both children and adults.
The equipment cost is less than $60. If we have enough kids to sign up, we may consider a group purchase that may significantly lower the price.
The fence class is now open for registration on school website. Please sign it up if you are interested. According to Dr. Leung, fencing is a physical “game of chess.” It will train your coordination, improve your ability to calmly observe, analyze and respond to dynamic situations. It requires strategic thinking, quick reflexes and endurance to succeed. It is a fun and team sport for children and teenagers.

3. Seminars on How to Learning Chinese
Learning Chinese whether as a heritage speaker or as a second language in an English environment is always a huge challenge, because Chinese is fundamentally different from English as the former is ideographic and the latter is alphabetic. We, as parents, should all appreciate the effort our children have put into the language study and be proud of the
progress they are making. In the meantime, we need to knowledge the challenges, many times the struggles we have in keeping our children on track of language study.
A lot of parents have asked for help how to motivate their children to learn and practice Chinese in a sustainable way. As a response to this outcry, the school starts to organize a series of seminars on topics of how to help our children learn Chinese. We hope to inspire discussions, deeper thinking and actions among ourselves. The details of seminars
will be announced once we finalize all the logistics. The tentative dates as of now are 10/5 and 10/19 respectively. Please book your calendar and stay tuned.

4. School Operations
I’d like to remind everyone of school operation time. School opens its door at 12:45PM and needs to close by 4PM sharply. If you need help from School staff after 4PM, please use email or phone to contact us. We must vacate the building by 4:00PM on time. Otherwise additional rental charge may incur and we will need to pay a bigger bill next year. All classes need to end by 3:40PM so there is enough time to clean and re-organize the classroom back to original state.

5. Clubs for Parents
For parents who join badminton club, basketball club, ping pong club, dance club and drum club, please complete your registration at http://dreamschool.com/albany/. The Chinese School is held responsible for facility usage with certain insurance coverage. It is imperative that each of users register and be protected by the umbrella policy in case of emergency.

6. Council Meeting
The school council will hold its first meeting this Sunday from 3PM to 3:50PM, to discuss and vote this year’s operational budget before a penny can be spent. This is an important meeting that requires commitment from all school staff, teacher representatives and PTA members. Therefore, most of us will not be available during the third class. If you have any questions or need help, please stop by school tables earlier.

I hope all of you have a good weekend.

Sincerely,
Feng Chen
Principal, Chinese School 2014-2015